Dream of the Dragon Pool ��A Daoist Quest is a multifaceted novel woven around the historical fact of the death-sentence exile of China�� best loved poet-adventurer, Li Bo (also Li Bai, 701-762
A.D.). This is an adventure story of magic, myth, and occult powers written as traditional Chinese-style heroic fiction.Forced by the emperor�� exile order, Li Bo travels up the great Yangtze
River toward certain death in distant Burma/Myanmar. Yet Li, not so concerned by his imminent death, regards his trip as a quest for his lost sense of poetic inspiration. Along the way, he
unwittingly befriends the emperor�� most powerful shamaness who is trying to escape from the palace to Mount Wu and serve the mythical Rain Goddess, mistress of that sacred mountain. Li Bo
accidentally awakens the dark forces of the Blood Dragon and its ghostly slaves. They are in pursuit of a magical sword, the legendary Dragon Pool Sword that Li Bo finds himself in possession
of after a dream visit from a Daoist Immortal. The cast is rounded out by Li�� traveling companion, a wandering blade veteran of the Tang dynasty�� Central Asian conquests, known as the ��ron
Talon�� a mysterious swordsman-musician, who travels with a ghost-catching drunken monkey; a ��ream assassin,��capable of killing people from within their dreams; and a blond, green-eyed,
Central Asian female ghost, enslaved by the Blood Dragon�� powers. The characters, settings, and sensibilities are inspired by the romantic and flamboyant Tang dynasty ��ales of wonder��and
woven together by the author, a veteran medieval China scholar turned novelist.
